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TODAY IN TRANSPORTATION: Carnegie Mellon University’s driverless car comes to D.C. to showcase the technology by giving rides to members of Congress. House Transportation Chairman Bill Shuster holds a presser this morning near the Capitol before he and acting Undersecretary of Transportation for Policy Peter Rogoff hop in for the first ride. The NTSB meets today to release the probable cause of the fatal Asiana Airlines crash at SFO last year. A House Homeland Security panel holds a hearing on how canine teams can help find explosives and mitigate threats, featuring testimony from the director of TSA’s threat assessment division. And ARTBA’s Transportation Makes America Work initiative continues with a graphic featuring a stunning stat: All the structurally deficient bridges, if laid end to end, would run over 1,500 miles — the distance from Boston to Miami.

FIRST IN MT — Foxx sounds siren on mass transit account: It’s not just the highway account that’s in jeopardy of running out of money if Congress doesn’t address the Highway Trust Fund soon. The transit account could be “facing insolvency before the end of December,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx wrote to around 900 recipients of federal transit dollars. Mirroring language in a similar letter to state DOTs about highway projects, Foxx wrote that DOT will have to delay transit project reimbursements if the balance dips too low thanks to congressional inaction. The highway account should fall below its $4 billion operational cushion as soon as July, Foxx wrote, and the transit side is not far behind with a balance below $1 billion predicted in October. “We plan to take an active role in helping Congress commit to a longer term agreement on surface transportation funding on a bipartisan basis,” Foxx writes in conclusion. Read the whole letter: http://politico.pro/UBvnmh

CORKER’S GAS TAX BACKUP? Sen. Bob Corker made waves in the transportation world when he recently endorsed a 12-cent gas tax hike. It spurred plenty of speculation, including about whether or not he’d have any support from his fellow Republicans. Former Sen. George Voinovich, who supported a gas tax hike in his final years in the Senate, said he doubts Corker is going it alone on the Republican side of the aisle. “Nobody is going to get out and do what I did unless they know that they have some others that are going to be with them,” he told MT in an interview.

Voinovich had already announced his retirement by the time he called for the tax bump, but he said plenty of sitting Republican senators privately acknowledge that the gas tax is the way to pay for highway and bridge projects. With the caveat that he hadn’t spoken with Rand Paul and several like-minded senators, Voinovich said that “every single one of them knows that in all probability you can’t get this done without having some sort of increase in the gas tax. They know this in their heart.” But Voinovich still lays the blame, like so many others have done, squarely at the feet of President Barack Obama for his long-running opposition to the tax.

About that…Asked about a gas tax hike at his first briefing today in his new gig, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said that “I believe that’s something that we’ve said a couple of times that we wouldn’t support.”

TUESDAY, JUNE 24. Thanks for reading POLITICO’s Morning Transportation, your daily tipsheet on trains, planes, automobiles and ports, where it was on this day in 1966 that the Senate passed the landmark National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act. Please drop me a line: asnider@politico.com. There’s more on Twitter: @AdamKSnider and @POLITICOPro.

METRO’S SILVER LINE TO OPEN JULY 26: The long-awaited first leg of Metro’s new Silver Line should open to paying passengers at noon on Saturday, July 26, GM Richard Sarles said yesterday. The first Silver Line train will depart the Wiehle-Reston East station heading for Largo Town Center at noon. Metro will also hold an inaugural event on the day Silver Line service kicks off, and simulated service will start a week before passengers can ride the full length of the new route. My story has more: http://politi.co/1m5UJy3

Halfway there: The second leg of the Silver Line, which will go to Dulles International Airport and bring a second airport into the nation’s second-busiest subway network, is slated to open in 2018.

THE FAST LANE, FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY: Secretary Foxx’s “Fast Lane” blog is being opened to mayors and governors from around the country who are dealing with the impending shortfall in the Highway Trust Fund. Yesterday Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear wrote (http://1.usa.gov/1uYV6QD) about the need for a bipartisan solution, and today’s post will come from Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn. Here’s a preview provided to MT: “Compared to cities across the country, Tampa is lucky. While we have significant needs, we haven’t had to close any bridges, and our interstate is generally an efficient way to move around our city. Our infrastructure is stable and reliable. The problem is that we don’t have enough of it. Over the years, Tampa, like most urban areas, has grown. More and more people are moving into cities and starting new businesses. We’re growing and creating jobs, but to be blunt, we don’t have the transportation options to support our redevelopment.”

Speaking of Foxx: Charlotte Magazine has a nice look at the life of the former mayor and current DOT leader: http://bit.ly/1nZbdMP

DRONE DRAMA: The Washington Post continues it series on drones by reporting that it found 15 cases in the last two years where a drone flew “dangerously close” to an airport or airplane. “A different set of records suggests that risky midair encounters are even more common,” the paper wrote. “A NASA database of confidential complaints filed by pilots and air-traffic controllers has recorded 50 other reports of close calls or improper flight operations involving drones over the past decade.” http://wapo.st/1yHQmn3

MAILBAG — Ballast water discharge: A huge coalition of maritime groups has written Senate Commerce leaders Jay Rockefeller and John Thune in support of legislation setting a national standard for the discharge of ballast water from ships. The groups asked that a bill (http://1.usa.gov/1q1O0wR) to that effect, introduced by Sen. Mark Begich, be put on the committee’s agenda for a markup that had been set for today at the time of the letter but was later postponed. The list of signatories takes up nearly a full page. Check it out: http://politico.pro/1nxbuoH

ELECTRONIC BILLBOARD SUIT DISMISSED: Scott Wong has the story for Pros: “A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by preservation group Scenic America challenging DOT’s rules allowing digital billboards to be placed along highways. U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg ruled Friday that the Federal Highway Administration’s 2007 decision that digital billboards do not fall within older lighting bans was legal since it was the agency’s ‘interpretation’ of the law, not a ‘substantive change.’ ‘Although the Court does not pass judgment on whether digital billboards are a boon or a blight, sightly or unsightly, safe or unsafe,’ Boasberg wrote in his 29-page opinion, ‘it does conclude that Defendants and Intervenor have the better of the argument here.’” http://politico.pro/1izWt7U

CSX RELASES VIRGINIA OIL TRAIN DATA: Kathryn reports for Pros: “CSX is transporting a minimum of 8 million to 20 million gallons of Bakken crude through Virginia every month along about 400 miles of track, according to documents released by the state. The documents, which appear to be among the first of their kind released publicly, were provided to Virginia emergency managers as a result of a DOT emergency order requiring freight railroads to give more information to state emergency planners about Bakken crude being shipped through their areas.” See the documents (http://politico.pro/1woMDIX) or read more in Kathryn’s story (http://politico.pro/1jJX1mz).

THE AUTOBAHN (SPEED READ)

- A dozen truck drivers, many of them OOIDA members, write in support of FMCSA head Anne Ferro after the independent trucking group called for her ouster. The Trucker: http://bit.ly/1rs36t6

- The Supreme Court will decide on the constitutionality of a law requiring the FRA and Amtrak to work together on decisions to investigate private railroads. SCOTUSblog: http://bit.ly/1pvpxfD

- The FAA issues new guidance on the use of model aircraft after several incidents of “reckless use.” FAA: http://1.usa.gov/1qtlbak

- CNN and Georgia Tech announce new work on drones for news-gathering in effort to “speed up government rule-making” on the issue. CNN: http://cnnmon.ie/1pvP3Bx

- New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio signs 11 bills designed to cut traffic fatalities as part of the “Vision Zero” initiative. Capital Pro: http://bit.ly/1pFwXih

- National Safety Council poll finds 73 percent support for more enforcement of bans on texting while driving. http://bit.ly/1nxG6q3

OPEN MIKE: Mike Allen got the first interview with new White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest for the latest installment in his “Open Mike” series. Check it out: http://politi.co/1fXCC0g

THE COUNTDOWN: MAP-21 expires and DOT funding runs out in 99 days. FAA policy is up in 464 days. The mid-term elections are in 133 days and the 2016 presidential election is in 868 days.

CABOOSE — Design your own Metro: Want to be a transit planner…in any city you choose? You can do just that with Transitmix, which lets you pop in an address and start adding transit lines to the map. Watch out — it’s addictive. CityLab has the link and more info: http://bit.ly/1sAHTBt

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